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| Hoteliers accuse state government of pursuing repressive measures in order to sabotage inflow of tourists | | | Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, Apr 3: The Coordination Committee of the hoteliers of Kashmir today accused the state government of pursuing 'repressive' measures against them so that they could lose out on account of clientele more so with the tourism season around the corner.
Addressing a press conference here, the office bearers of Coordination Committee said that state government has already 'destroyed' some of the important sectors of Kashmir and are pursuing the path to do the same to the hotel industry of Kashmir.
"The state government seems to have made up its mind to sabotage the inflow of tourists to the Kashmir valley in the upcoming tourist season. It is due to this reason only that the state government is time and again issuing directions to the hoteliers to set Sewerage Treatment Plants failing which the hotels would be shut down," said Mohammad Showkat Chowdhary, President Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHARA).
Showkat said that such measures would act as a dampener with very few people willing to come to Kashmir since the hotels would be 'forced' to shut down their business. "Time and again directions seem to be a ploy from the state government to disrupt the tourism season. If the hotels are closed down then tourists won't come and as such the Kashmir economy would suffer," he said.
Ghulam Mohammad Dug, President Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Federation said that Pollution Control Board (PCB) has disregarded its guidelines of 2011 by ordering the installation of Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP'S) in hotels having at least 20 rooms without considering the efficacy of such plants in a cold place like Kashmir.
"The efficient and result oriented working of a STP requires that there is a minimum temperature of 15-20 degrees C below which the Bacteria, the driving force of working of STP'S in the treatment of effluent, do not survive. The Valley touches temperature upto minus 10-15 degrees. There should be un-interrupted power supply as well with this being a rarity in Kashmir," said Dug.
Faiz Bakshi, Chairman Coordination Committee said that a minimum of 25 percent of effluent load of the installed capacity-tourism in Kashmir is restricted to 90 days in best of times and for the remaining period there is no load. He said a minimum of 1000-2000 Sqft of land is required for setting up a proper STP but most of the hotels do not have any land available.
"The STP's are reduced to cosmetic pieces or junk in the backyard. This is the reason why the individual STP's already installed under the orders, recommendation and supervision of PCB have become redundant," said Faiz. He said the recent report of Comptroller and Auditor General has cast shadow on the efficacy of STP'S in cold regions of the country.
Javed Bashir Burza, President Pahalgam Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association said that Kashmir valley have also been singled out for discrimination in comparison to the guidelines existing in other parts of the country like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa, Assam and North-East States.
The hoteliers said that union tourism ministry has made it clear that Sewerage Treatment Plant will not be a mandatory condition for hotels which have obtained completion certificates for construction before 01-04-2012. |
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